


Rekindling

by dickiegreenleaf



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, dan comes back from LA, short and lyrical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:23:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22275301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dickiegreenleaf/pseuds/dickiegreenleaf
Summary: Rekindling: another vehicle for fire.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	Rekindling

When Dan crosses the threshold of the flat, he is filled with the particular sense that his body, worn from travel, is prone to collapse in a pile on the entryway floor. Heel to toe, he steps out of the worn grey trainers he wears on every flight— _ a fallacious safety blanket— _ and kicks them into the pile beside the door.

Unfamiliar voices slink through the hallway, their words muted by walls and floors and twists and turns. Dan makes his way toward them slowly, softly, soundlessly; he takes a lumbering tour through his own dominion. Shadows whisper, cast their judgment on white-painted walls, and in their triumph Dan still makes out the images: memories hung throughout the hallway, remnants of a shared life. A life he’s built with Phil.

As voices draw nearer, Dan catches sight of sickly-sweet light pouring from under the lounge door. The glow is yellow, cast in purple, and traces patterns against the textured laminate of the hallway floor as it dances. Dan puts his right hand on the cool metal of the door handle. Once more he is filled with the sensation of collapse. Phil doesn’t know yet that Dan is back.

As Dan turns the doorknob the sensation swells, and it continues to grow within him as he enters the lounge, until it reaches its upper bound, a crescendo as he meets the eyes of Phil, who is spread out on the sofa under a knit throw, a show blaring loudly on the television set. When Phil’s eyebrows scrunch up, creases folding on his forehead, and his eyes begin to water with the residue of time gone by, the feeling outgrows its stifling boundaries, and pops.

Dan steps forward, toward Phil—always toward Phil—at the same moment that Phil sheds his blanket, springs up so quickly as to stumble, and moves into Dan’s space. Phil’s arms, like intimate flesh-vines, wrap around Dan’s shoulders, pulling, squeezing. Dan’s arms loop around his waist.

Dan’s voice, lips having now taken up residence in the skin between Phil’s neck and shoulder, whispers, “Hi.”

Phil’s arms squeeze ever-tighter, his nose in Dan’s ear, on Dan’s flushed-pink cheek, under his chin. Breathing, smelling, rekindling. Kindling: easily combustible small sticks or twigs used for starting a fire. Rekindling: another vehicle for fire.

Phil’s smile is now pressed into Dan’s shoulder, into the cotton of his sweatshirt, Phil’s chin tucked to his chest. That this is exactly where Dan belongs puts his heart in his throat.

“I haven’t seen you in twelve days,” Phil breathes, like a confession. As if parting were a sin.

Now, Phil pulls back, hands on Dan’s broad shoulders, fingers pressing into firm flesh. He looks into Dan’s eyes, eyes into which he’s thrown himself hundreds of thousands of times. The same eyes they were two weeks ago before LA.

Dan’s face is pink, flushed with the excitement of reunion and the force of rekindling. Though he does not absolve Phil’s confession in word, he nods with grade and piety. As if he knows—because he does.

It was the particular feel of Phil, this sensation, that made leaving a burning hot iron. Though necessity often dictated departure from their home, often it was together. These solo journeys, these sojourns, were avoided if unnecessary. But it was the particular feel of Phil that made reunion such lavish delight.

Everything that occurs in the intermission—the space between iron and collapse—makes you want to run and hide.

**Author's Note:**

> obvi very short. just had some Feelings to express. hope you enjoyed.


End file.
